Gearing for bicycles.



No. 635,082. Patented flct. l7, I899.

a. A. STILES. GEARlNG FUR BICYCLES.

(Application filed July 21, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet (No Model.)

Tm: mums PETERS 00 PNOTO-Ll'YNQ-, WASHINGTON o c No. 635,082. Patented 0m. 17, I899.

G. A. STILES. GEAR ING FOR BIGYCLES. (Application am m 21, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet z,

(in Model.)

TNE mums PIYIIRS cc. mouvnoq WASHINGTON. n. c.

llniTnn STATns PATENT Orricn. I

GEORGE ABNER STILES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

GEARING FOR BIYCYCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,082, dated October 17, 1899.. Application filed July 21, 1898. Serial No. 686,498. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE ABNER SrILEs, a citizen of the United States, residing in Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gearing for Bicycles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates more especially to systems of gearing for driving bicyclesand other light machines, though the invention is not restricted to any particular class of machines or any specific use to which the gearing may be put.

The construction is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, where the invention is shown applied to a gear-driving safety-bicycle of the ordinary type.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows in side elevation a bicycle having my gearing applied thereto, the object of this view being particularly to illustrate the protecting-casing for the parts and to show the peculiar adaptation of the gearing tothe driving of cycles. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the gearing only, the side of the covering or cas-= ing being removed. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken through the shafts of the several wheels and gears. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section of one reach of the track, the same being on the line 4 4. of Fig. 2.

Wherever the same part is illustrated in the different views it is denoted by the same letter.

Referring first to Fig. 1, it is to be noted that the machine shown, except in the particulars of the driving-gear hereinafter pointed out, may be of the usualor any preferred form.

The letter a denotes the pedal-shaft, and a a circular dust-proof casing or guard inclos ing a drive-wheel b, which is fixed on the pedalshaft. This wheel is a spur-gear having a rather-wide periphery and two lines of teeth b b, the toothed rim of the wheel being preferably connected to the hub by spokes for lightness instead of being a solid disk.

The letter 0 denotes the driven sprocket or pinion that is fixed to the rear wheel. This,

as usual, is also a spur-pinion; but it is con structed in this instance like the drive-wheel b, with a Wide face and two lines of gearteeth 0 c.

The letterd indicates the rear-Wheel axle.

The mechanism for transmitting power from the pedal-shaft to the rear-wheel sprocket or pinion consists of a continuous track or way 6, extending on one side of the machine (the drawing shows it on the right side, but it may be on either) from the casing a, which incloses the drive-wheel a, to a similar casin g f, which incloses the rear-wheel pinion c, and an endless series of separate or independent contact-pieces or slides g, which fill the track and are moved around therein by the drivewheel a, as will presently be more fully explained. The track or way ehas two reaches an upper one, along which the contact-pieces travel rearward, and a lower one, along which the pieces travel forward. Each reach consists of two track bars or strips 6, which are rigidly secured at opposite ends to extensions a f, respectively, of the front and rear dust-proof casings already described. These strips or bars are located edgewise in the same plane, as best illustrated in Fig. 4., and are suitably spaced apart to provide a passage-way for the slides or contact-pieces g, and between the casing extensions a f the track or way thus formed is covered with cappieces 8 semicircular in cross-section, which when secured at their upper and lower edges along the corresponding edges of the strips e protect and conceal the strips and the space between them and constitute a closed passage-way for the contact-pieces to travel in unseen and protected from dust and injury.

The guards or casings a and f, with their extensions a and f, respectively, and the track or way above described, form an integral part of the frame of the machine herein shown and take the place of the usual horizontal frame-bar that runs from the pedalshaft to the rear-wheel axle on one side of the wheel. As best indicated in Fig. 3, the track (2, with its casings 6 is preferably of the same width as the casings a and f,- and this gives the whole a neat, strong, and attractive ap.- pearance. If preferred, the casing 6 may extend vertically from the lower edge of the lower reach to the upper edge of the top reach,

spanning the space between them and inclosing both in the one casing; but I prefer that each reach should have its own casing, as shown in the drawings, especially as this arrangement gives a lighter appearance to the wheel.

As before stated, the track-strips e are secured at opposite ends to the casing extensions a f'. No particular means of making this connection is shown herein, for the reason that any suitable means may be employed; but however they may be secured the outermost strips preferably extend into the casing extensions and project in between the toothed flanges of the wheels I) and c, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the sides of the casing extensions are bolted or otherwise fastened through the strips. The inner strips of each reach of the track are shorter and after entering the casing extensions are cut off short, as best shown in Fig. 2. Attheir ends these inner strips are provided on each side with short guides 7? 1?, which project over the guide-pinions 2' t' on each side and serve to direct the contact-pieces accurately into the space between the strips 6 e.

In the side Walls of the extensions 0. f of the two casings, already described, are rigidly secured stud-axles h h, and within the inclosures of the extensions are mounted to run on ball-bearin gs on these axles two guide-pinions "L i, one at each end of the track or slideway, and the diameter and location of the pinions are such that their peripheries are about flush with the passage-way between the strips of the two reaches of the track. These pinions have each a single line of spur-teeth that occupy and rotate in the plane of the trackstrips, the ends of which are cut and curved to form a circular housing for the pinions, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. These pinions form antifriction guides and bearings for the contact-pieces at the ends of the track, where the turns are made. They receive the slides or contact-pieces as they emerge from one end of the passage-way between the strips 6 e in their interdental spaces, and on the diametrically opposite side they guide and direct the pieces into the corresponding end of the return passage-way, and they combine with the two reaches of the track to form a continuous slideway, in and through which the contactpieces roll or slide.

I am aware that it is not new to employ a continuous trackway of this general description in connection with sliding contact-pieces, but the particular construction and arrangement of my guide-track, and especially the form and construction of the contact-pieces themselves, I believe to be novel and highly efficient in operation. The guide-track has already been sufficiently described. The contact-pieces are shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. They consist of pins having a diameter just sufficiently less than the space between the strips 6 to enable them to pass easily and smoothly through the space. provided with enlarged disks which are spaced apart a trifle in excess of the thickness of the strips 6, so as to overlap their inner edges and hold and guide the pins in their movement. As will be seen in Fig. 2, the disks of the several pins contact with one another, and being of considerably greater diameter than the pins they separate the pins sufficiently to accommodate the teeth of the drive and driven wheels and the guide-pinions. The ends of the pins are extended beyond the disks, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to enable the lines of teeth b b and c c on the drive and driven wheels, respectively, to engage them outside of the disks and on either side of the wheels I) and c, as clearly indicated in Fig. 3, thus securing two bearing-surfaces on the pins at comparatively widely separated points. The guide-pinions '1: 'i, being in the plane of the track-strips, engage the pins midway of their length between the disks, but the drive-wheel b and the driven pinion 0 have each two lines of teeth, and the flanges in which these teeth are made straddle the ends of the outermost track-strips and overlap the teeth of the guide-pinions, so that they engage the ends of the pins outside the disks. It will be seen from this that the drive-wheel does not engage the guide-pinion or the pinion at the opposite end of the track engage the driven wheel, but that the connection between these Wheels and the guide-pinions is solely through the intermediacy of the contact-pieces g. The wheel I? engages and drives the pieces, and the latter engage and drive the pinion 41.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim, and desire to secure, is

1. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or way, an endless series of independent contact-pieces, guide-pinions at opposite ends of the track and adapted to receive the contact-pieces in their interdental spaces, a drive-wheel engaging the contactpieces at one end of the track, and a driven pinion engaged by the pieces at the other end of the track, the axes of said wheels and pinions lying in substantially the same plane.

2. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or way, an endless series of independent contact-pieces, guide-pinions located at opposite ends of the track so as to receive the contact-pieces in their interdental spaces, a drive-wheel at one end of the track, and a driven pinion at the other end of the track, said drive-Wheel and driven pinion overlapping the guide-pinions and engaging the contact-pieces while they are in the inter dental spaces of the guide-pinions.

3. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or way, an endless series of independent contact-pieces traveling therein, a guide-pinion located with respect to the track so as to receive the contact-pieces therefrom into its interdental spaces, and a drive- The pins are I track-bars at the sides, the several disks conwheel overlapping the pinion, said wheel having teeth engaging the contact-pieces on each side of the guide-pinion.

4. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or Way, an endless series of independent con tact-pieces traveling therein, a guide-pinion located with respect to the track so as to receive the contact-pieces therefrom into its interdental spaces, and a drivewheel overlapping the pinion, the pinion having a single line of teeth engaging the contact-pieces centrally of their length, and the drive-wheel having lines of teeth overlapping the guide-pinion and engaging the contactpieces on each side of the guide-pinion.

5. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or way, and an endless series of independent contact-pieces, the track consisting of bars or strips placed edgewise in the same plane and suitably spaced apart to permit the passage of the contact-pieces between them, and the latter consisting of roller pins having enlarged disks overlapping the tactin g with one another, and serving to keep the pins separated for the engagement there- 'between of the teeth of a gear-Wheel.

6. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or way, and an endless series of independent contact-pieces, the track.

gear-wheel, the track or Way having a cover to conceal and protect the contact-pieces.

'7. In a driving-gear, the combination of a continuous track or way, an endless series of independent contact-pieces, the track consisting of bars or strips placed edgewise in the same plane and suitably spaced apart to permit the passage of the contact-pieces between them, and the latter consisting of roller-pins having enlarged disks overlapping the trackbars at the sides, the several disks contacting with one another and serving to keep the pins separated for the engagement therebetween of the teeth of a gear-wheel, a guidepinion having a single line of teeth in the plane of the track-strips and engaging the roller-pins between their disks, and a drive- Wheel overlapping the pinion and having a line of teeth on each side of said pinions teeth and engaging the roller-pins outside their disks.

8. In a driving-gear, the combination of a toothed drive-wheel, a toothed driven wheel, the teeth of said wheels overlapping but not engaging one another, and pins projecting into the interdental spaces of and between said wheels and forming the driving connection between them.

9. In a driving-gear, the combination, to form a means of transmitting power from a drive to a driven Wheel of a continuous track, and an endless series of independent contactpieces, the latter consisting of the pins p,having the disks 8, s, the several disks cont-acting with one another and acting to keep the pins suitably spaced apart for the engagement of the teeth of the wheels.

10. The combination,to form adriving-gear for bicycles, of the pedal-shaft h, having the drive-wheel Z), the driven pinionc, on the rear Wheel, the continuous track 6, the guide-pinions 2', t', at the ends of the same, and an endless series of independent contact-pieces traversing the track and guide-pinions, the drivewheel, and driven pinion respectively engaging the contact-pieces at opposite ends of the track where they pass around the guide-pinions, the axes of said wheels and pinions lying in substantially the same plane.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. ABNER STILES.

Witnesses:

HERBERT R. JONES, F. W. MOREY, Jr. 

